Charles Rangel headlines Tuesday primary ballot

Two incumbents face peril on Tuesday, when voters in five states – New York, Colorado, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah - cast ballots in House primaries.

The night’s headliner is in New York, where longtime Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel is facing the most serious primary of his 42-year congressional career, forced to run in a newly drawn seat against a well-known state senator. Another race to watch is in Colorado, where GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn is squaring off against a deep-pocketed challenger who’s self-funding his campaign.

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A handful of open-seat races are also receiving attention, including one in Brooklyn, where Charles Barron, a New York City councilman with a history of controversial racial statements, is running in a primary against a rising star in the Democratic Party, state Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.

Here’s POLITICO’s guide to Tuesday’s House primaries:

NEW YORK

6th District

Grace Meng, a state assemblywoman, has emerged as the favorite in the race for the Queens seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman, winning endorsements from Rep. Joe Crowley, the influential Queens County Democratic Party chairman, and The New York Times.

Meng, who is trying to become the first Asian-American elected to Congress from the Eastern Seaboard, also benefits from the racial composition of the race. While New York City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and state Assemblyman Rory Lancman are expected to split the white vote, Meng is well positioned to capture the support of the district’s considerable Asian population.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to easily hold the seat in the general election.

7th District

Democratic Rep. Nydia Velázquez is expected to easily fend off Erik Martin Dilan, a New York City councilman who’s seeking to dislodge her from the seat she’s held since 1993.

Dilan has the backing of Vito Lopez, the influential Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman who’s long feuded with Velázquez. But the challenger has run an underfunded campaign, spending just $94,000 through June 6 — about one-seventh the amount that the incumbent had spent.

Velázquez, a well-known commodity in New York City politics, also benefits from endorsements from each of the city’s three major daily newspapers.

8th District

Top Democrats have launched an all-out effort to stop Barron, a former Black Panther who was once quoted as saying he wanted to “slap the closest white person.”

New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have endorsed Barron’s opponent, Jeffries, as have a handful of House members, including Rep. Steve Israel, who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In a statement, Israel said Barron has “an unfortunate history of comments that are anti-Semitic and anti-gay.”